I've actually been pleasantly surprised by how well they are playing, and I feel they will continue to get better as the season progresses. Get KJ back in there and more experience in the back end and we will be pretty good.

They are about 6 weeks late, we were talking about this in pre season and making our assessments, most of us felt Pete would get us where we needed to be and the biggest question was replacing the RCB position and what would happen if Earl held out. Well now we know Flowers not Maxwell owns the RCB spot, and Thompson held up so far in replacing Earl and will only get better. Additionally a lot of our D line guys that are Dinged will be coming back after the Bye so the pass rush should do nothing but improve as well.

It's the change that people have issues with, not the performance since that has held up pretty well so far. Not top 5 yet but they are working on it and climbing the ladder a bit at a time.

chris98251 wrote:They are about 6 weeks late, we were talking about this in pre season and making our assessments, most of us felt Pete would get us where we needed to be and the biggest question was replacing the RCB position and what would happen if Earl held out. Well now we know Flowers not Maxwell owns the RCB spot, and Thompson held up so far in replacing Earl and will only get better. Additionally a lot of our D line guys that are Dinged will be coming back after the Bye so the pass rush should do nothing but improve as well.

It's the change that people have issues with, not the performance since that has held up pretty well so far. Not top 5 yet but they are working on it and climbing the ladder a bit at a time.

I have been pleasantly surprised the opposing OCs didn't pick on Tre Flowers more, I felt like Tre and Griffin were kinda of equal in passes attempted in their territories. Am I wrong?

I am however liking Thompson, he isn't playing at Earl level on field yet, but he isn't destructive off field like Earl. I am liking the young backfield of Flowers, Thompson, McDougal, and Griffin.

I'm enjoying the season and that they at least stiffen up and limit to 3 a fair bit, but I'm careful to curb my enthusiasm after playing against a cable offense. Cable makes crappy Ds look like the 85 bears.

hawk45 wrote:They get worked by half decent QBs and destroyed by good QBs.

I'm enjoying the season and that they at least stiffen up and limit to 3 a fair bit, but I'm careful to curb my enthusiasm after playing against a cable offense. Cable makes crappy Ds look like the 85 bears.

hawk45 wrote:They get worked by half decent QBs and destroyed by good QBs.

I'm enjoying the season and that they at least stiffen up and limit to 3 a fair bit, but I'm careful to curb my enthusiasm after playing against a cable offense. Cable makes crappy Ds look like the 85 bears.

Well you can be enthusiastic about the reality that the team is statistically the #6 D in the NFL on .5 yards/game behind the Redskins who are ranked #5.

Let's see what happens over the next 3 games against Stafford, Rodgers, and Rivers, maybe your enthusiasm may not need to be curbed.

I'm frankly very pleased with what the team has done on D in the face of a massive personnel rebuild. The DLine is showing improvement game to game and will be better when and if some bodies are healthy, the young DBs are playing far better than expected (Flowers has been a very pleasant surprise), and the team is getting solid work from the LBs. Adding back Green. Wright and perhaps Jordan to the mix may make them a good deal stronger. The next 3 games will tell the direction of the season and solidify or end the present impressions.

I believe the direction the team is going is very positive, despite the massive loss of talent.

I liked Flowers out of the Gate, Think about it McDougald, Coleman, Flowers and Thompson and Griffin, Thompson and McDougald currently ranked best Safety Tandem, we know how good Coleman is as a Nickel, Griffin and Flowers could be one of the best duos in the league by seasons end. The Scary part is they are all young, no high draft pick and won't break the bank for years. Oh what's more Scary for the league, they are going to get better.

If you would've told me that this group would be the 6th ranked scoring defense in the league at this point in the season I would've laughed in your face, considering the amount of talent they loss last season that is very impressive regardless of the schedule-However, to be fair I think the next group of opponents will be a real test for this defense, Detroit, both LA teams, GB, Minny.